The good news is that there appears to be very little oil left on the surface of the ocean in the Gulf. The bad news is it will be years before wildlife stocks recover and oil will still be on/in the Gulf beaches and marshes for years - if not decades - to come. We are still filming "The Gulf of Mexico - Today and Tomorrow". As a reminder, the show airs every Sunday morning prime-time on your local Fox SportsNet channel at 10.00 am local time. You can still catch the 2010 BATV shows on Channel 354 DirecTV and on Untamed Sports and we are busy selecting all our destinations for 2011!

Nikon has very generously donated commercial space within "The Gulf of Mexico - Today and Tomorrow" for the PSAs of various non-profit organizations involved in the clean-up effort. Thanks Nikon!

Congratulations to Bob Sanders of Orlando FL for identifying the latest mystery bird as a Yellow-nosed Albatross. Be sure to enter this week's quiz!

Stay tuned for another Birding Adventure!

THE TV SHOW WHERE BIRDS OF A FEATHER ADVENTURE TOGETHER

GULF UPDATE!

It seems as if Phase 1 of the first part of this disaster is nearing completion. There are now only minimal traces of oil on the surface of the ocean in the Gulf, the well is nearly completely capped and the beaches are "superficially" cleaned. However, this is just the beginning of a long process of restoration for both the people of the Gulf and the environment. On the ground we are seeing clean white beaches which is good for bringing tourists back to the region - a much needed boost to the local economy. And while this in itself is cause for celebration, one only has to dig a little deeper under the surface to find the oil.

Hopefully scenes like this are a thing of the past

Oil under the sand

Obviously this is by no means over. But little glimmers of hope are now starting to appear after over 3 months of heartache. When interviewing various residents, conservation officials and clean-up volunteers, there is general agreement that much work remains to be done but the low morale has reached its low-point and is on the up. The numbers of oiled wildlife and birds are considerably down but nothing can be done to replace the many lives that have already been lost. Consider these numbers of dead wildlife since the disaster began (US Fish & Wildlife June 28th, 2010):

1150 birds; 434 sea turtles and 51 mammals.

Important considerations are that this tally is over a month old and ONLY relates to dead animals collected. It is safe to say that this is but a fraction of the true number that has been lost. And add to this the number of animals killed during the clean-up. We witnessed many Least Tern nests that showed clear evidence of destruction by vehicles on beaches.

A Least Tern chick seeks shelter

With as much as 200 million gallons of oil leaked already, this is still a major crisis but we are on the way to winning this battle and, with a little help from resilient Mother Nature, let's hope that it doesn't take 20 years! If you would like to support the many causes that are doing great work in the Gulf, watch "The Gulf of Mexico - Today and Tomorrow" every Sunday at 10.00 am on your local Fox SportsNet Channel.

FIRST PHOTO OF RARE BIRD!

The first full photograph of an endangered Ochre-fronted Antpitta in the wild was recently taken by American Bird Conservancy Conservation (ABC) Biologist Daniel Lebbin at Peru's Abra Patricia Bird Reserve. Lebbin photographed a male a short distance from the Owlet ecolodge, within the reserve located in northern Peru at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. Only a few photographs of an Ochre-fronted Antpitta in the hand were previously available along with a partial photo of the underparts of a wild bird.

The four and a half-inch long species was discovered in 1976 and is mostly brown, with heavy black streaks on its pale underparts. It is known from only two localities on isolated ridges of moist montane forest in the east Andes in Amazonas and San Martín, in north Peru. It mainly eats invertebrates.

Photo: Daniel Lebbin

Abra Patricia is designated an Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) site because of the presence of both the antpitta and the endangered Long-whiskered Owlet. ABC and its Peruvian partner Associacion Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN, a leading Peruvian conservation organization) established a 6,739-acre reserve and have been given management rights by the Peruvian government on a further 16,561 acres to protect habitat for these and other threatened birds. The reserve continues to expand with the purchase of the strategically-placed "La Cumbre" property in July thanks to support of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund. Additionally, the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory's Tropical Forests Forever Fund is supporting the purchase of an additional tract of land on the western boundary of the reserve, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is supporting the construction of a research laboratory and administration house currently underway.

The Abra Patricia Reserve is just one of several Latin American bird reserves that are featured on the new website Conservation Birding - www.conservationbirding.org - which encourages tourists to visit these unique places to see the birds of a lifetime, such as the antpitta, while supporting their conservation.

American Bird Conservancy conserves native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas by safeguarding the rarest species, conserving and restoring habitats, and reducing threats while building capacity of the bird conservation movement. ABC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership organization that is consistently awarded a top, four-star rating by the independent group, Charity Navigator.

Congratulations to Bob Sanders of Orlando FL who correctly identified our last mystery bird as a Yellow-nosed Albatross. Bob won a Nikon lens cleaning kit and a $20 gift voucher to www.nikonprogear.com

Correctly identify this week's mystery bird and win a $10 gift voucher to www.nikonprogear.com and a Nikon lens cleaning cloth.

The winner (first correct entry drawn) will be announced in next week's newsletter.

TV SCHEDULE

All BATV shows are now airing on DirecTV channel 354 on the R&R network. Additionally you can catch the shows on the Untamed Sports Network 4 times a week.

Remember to catch our new series in partnership with Cabelas Fishermans Handbook - "The Gulf of Mexico - Today and Tomorrow". The show focuses on how the Oil Spill is affecting wildlife, tourism, people and outdoor activities.